Introduction

Writing a research paper is a different experience than writing a brief or memorandum of law. In a brief, you start with a position, and your job is to develop the arguments in support of your position.

When you write a research paper, you must first select a topic and decide what position to adopt. Then you must develop arguments to support your position. The final paper still presents your position and supporting arguments in order to persuade the reader, just as a brief does, but you must use a different process to arrive at the end product.

This guide provides resources that will help you along each step of process.

Picking a Topic Legal news sources to help you identify legal issues and generate ideas for research.